I've had Communion on my mind lately. I have to wonder if God is trying to help me with this area of worship. Having been on an Emmaus Walk and having worked many an Emmaus Walk, I am familiar with the Means of Grace talk. I've had Holy Communion explained as a means of the grace of God, as is Baptism, Marriage, and others. Many churches have Communion, the breaking of bread and drinking of wine (or juice), once a year, or once a month, or even every Sunday.
Jesus specifically said to his inner twelve disciples, "Do this in remembrance of Me." So, when churches perform Communion, they correctly emphasize and associate the breaking of the bread with the breaking of Jesus' body and the drinking of wine as Jesus' blood that was spilled, all for the sins of man. The suffering was brutal and although He had done no thing that warranted His death, He willingly gave it for every person who has ever been born. And that grace covers every person who believes in Him as the Son of God from their eternal past to their eternal future so that all their sins are covered.
However, this partaking has always confused me. Why do we choose to do this with only bread and only wine (or juice)? Certainly Jesus used these foods then because they were the main food you could obtain. I also believe it was absolutely essential for Him to use bread given the very many references by Him and other Bible writers as the Bread of Life. Another question I wonder is why or how do we decide how often we have communion? Why do some do it rarely and others do it often?
My conviction over Communion is I believe it misses the mark of Jesus' intention. For me, I think Jesus was saying to me, "I am life." But more than that, "I am the provision for sustained life." If I want to be alive in the only life that matters, my spiritual life, I have to have Jesus. Not only at the beginning when it starts and I accept my belief in Him, but every day for sustainment. He must be in my every day or I will cease to be alive spiritually. This is the equivalent of eating physical food for sustaining my physical body. I have to eat almost every day or I become weak and if I don't eat enough, I will die. Jesus knew what kind of dumb sheep we are and certainly He knew how foolish and quick to forget we'd be. We would need a symbol or act to remind us of His sacrifice.
When Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of Me", I have to wonder if He didn't intentionally mean we should think of Him, His broken body and spilled blood given for the redemption of our sin, before EVERY meal. That before every meal we are about to eat that will sustain our physical body, we acknowledge and consider that we need Christ to sustain us spiritually; that we consider the incredible sacrifice offered for us; that we acknowledge our sin and our need for salvation; that we accept His gift and recognize Him as our Savior.
I have to consider this practice, even if only for a few days. Will it change 1) how I think spiritually, 2) my spiritual closeness and dependence upon Jesus, and 3) how I eat and see the food I am about to consume? I pray for God's guidance in this area as I consider what is hopefully His leadership. Otherwise, I just need to be theologically educated.
Jesus specifically said to his inner twelve disciples, "Do this in remembrance of Me." So, when churches perform Communion, they correctly emphasize and associate the breaking of the bread with the breaking of Jesus' body and the drinking of wine as Jesus' blood that was spilled, all for the sins of man. The suffering was brutal and although He had done no thing that warranted His death, He willingly gave it for every person who has ever been born. And that grace covers every person who believes in Him as the Son of God from their eternal past to their eternal future so that all their sins are covered.
However, this partaking has always confused me. Why do we choose to do this with only bread and only wine (or juice)? Certainly Jesus used these foods then because they were the main food you could obtain. I also believe it was absolutely essential for Him to use bread given the very many references by Him and other Bible writers as the Bread of Life. Another question I wonder is why or how do we decide how often we have communion? Why do some do it rarely and others do it often?
My conviction over Communion is I believe it misses the mark of Jesus' intention. For me, I think Jesus was saying to me, "I am life." But more than that, "I am the provision for sustained life." If I want to be alive in the only life that matters, my spiritual life, I have to have Jesus. Not only at the beginning when it starts and I accept my belief in Him, but every day for sustainment. He must be in my every day or I will cease to be alive spiritually. This is the equivalent of eating physical food for sustaining my physical body. I have to eat almost every day or I become weak and if I don't eat enough, I will die. Jesus knew what kind of dumb sheep we are and certainly He knew how foolish and quick to forget we'd be. We would need a symbol or act to remind us of His sacrifice.
When Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of Me", I have to wonder if He didn't intentionally mean we should think of Him, His broken body and spilled blood given for the redemption of our sin, before EVERY meal. That before every meal we are about to eat that will sustain our physical body, we acknowledge and consider that we need Christ to sustain us spiritually; that we consider the incredible sacrifice offered for us; that we acknowledge our sin and our need for salvation; that we accept His gift and recognize Him as our Savior.
I have to consider this practice, even if only for a few days. Will it change 1) how I think spiritually, 2) my spiritual closeness and dependence upon Jesus, and 3) how I eat and see the food I am about to consume? I pray for God's guidance in this area as I consider what is hopefully His leadership. Otherwise, I just need to be theologically educated.
1 comment:
First, I want you to know I do read your posts daily - at least those days that I post. Not sure why it doesn't show when I view it from the the Posts page.
Second, I appreciate this blog. One if the things I didn't like about the Methodist Church when we first visited was monthly communion. It seemed like some left over ritual from the Catholic Church at the time. As you mentioned in your excellent write up, my Emmaus experience revolutionized my thinking in a number of ways I guess and Communion was one of them. One would think that after the dozens of walks and flights, I would be running out of things to nail to the cross or declare out loud in front of a bunch of other men. Yet my list seems only to grow. Not that I feel farther from God, but that the closer I get, the more sin is revealed perhaps.
I find the requirement to get up and approach the alter is to me sort of like the requirement to face my Dad when I knew I had done something wrong. That was a long and terrifying walk either to confess or to receive my punishment.
We've shared on numerous occasions how we both miss the high in-your-face accountability of the Baptist Church. Yet I find that I don't need a hell-fire and brimstone speech to be confronted. Communion has become for me an incredibly confrontational as well as freeing experience. As we go through the order of service, I'm personally just assaulted by my many failures - failures as a husband, father, friend (especially to you and Julie) and as a member of our community. So now, I'm thankful for monthly communion. I'm thankful for the opportunity to beg for mercy and forgiveness if from no one else at least from God. For the same reason, I've finally learned to appreciate the season of Lent. For me, this Lenton season has been a hard one. Not only have I been extremely busy, but God has really been "on me" as you put it about sin that He has to continually deal with in me. Some things are difficult to conquer and while I know I cannot do it without him, my stubbornness and laziness cause me to repeatedly stumble. Clearly God doesn't desire to heap guilt upon us, yet He clearly has not refrained as I continue to lack the faith to truly turn over gluttony and lust and enjoy the freedom promised in Christ.
I don't expect everyone to approach Communion or the season of Lent like I do. I needed a system of strong accountability and in concert with an accountability partner, I think communion and the Lenton season has met that need better than a red-faced screaming preacher.
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